Glenmark launches 2 teneligliptin drugs

Bengaluru: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has introduced a new product to its Rs 100-crore market for diabetes. It announced the pan-India launch of teneligliptin, in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The drug belongs to the gliptin class of drugs, which have come to be the preferred line of treatment for managing type 2 diabetes across the globe.  

Teneligliptin is a selective DPP-4 inhibitor that falls in the second line of therapy options where metformin is used in the first line of therapy.

The company has launched the drug under two brand names, Ziten and Zita Plus, after clinical trials spanning 24 weeks and 237 patients across 36 centres in India.

At present, only 1.9 million of the 62 million diabetic patients in India are estimated to be using DPP-4 inhibitors/gliptins for the treatment of diabetes. The market



for gliptins is estimated to be at 19.8 per cent of the total market for diabetic treatments which is estimated to be around Rs 6,000 crore. “This is mostly because of the high prices of gliptins,” said Sujesh Vasudevan, president and head (India business), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. 

“The market share of 19.8 per cent comes from the high prices, as less than three per cent patients are actually using gliptins,” he said.

Teneligliptin has been priced at Rs 19.9 per tablet of 20 mg which the company claims is 55 per cent lesser than existing treatments. The product is said to be the only gliptin to be manufactured in India from API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) to formulation. Glenmark is the first Indian company to bring gliptins to India where otherwise all gliptins used to be imported.